China escalates tension with Taiwan with warplanes 2:38
(CNN) -
China may be able to mount a "large-scale" invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island's defense minister said on Wednesday, days after a record number of Chinese warplanes flew into the area. of Taiwan air defense.
"With regard to organizing an attack on Taiwan, they currently have the capacity. But [China] will have to pay the price," Chiu Kuo-cheng, the defense minister, told Taiwanese reporters on Wednesday.
Everything you need to know about the dispute between Taiwan and China
But he said that by 2025, that price will be lower, and China will be able to mount a "full-scale" invasion.
Chiu's comments came after China sent 150 aircraft, including nuclear-capable fighter jets and bombers, to Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) since Oct. 1.
At a parliament meeting on Wednesday, Chiu described cross-strait military tensions as "the most serious" in more than 40 years since joining the military, Taiwan's official Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
At the meeting, the Taiwanese military presented a report to lawmakers saying that China's blocking and anti-intervention capabilities around the Taiwan Strait will mature by 2025, according to the CNA.
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China sends warplanes near Taiwan 0:43
Lawmakers also revised a $ 8.6 billion special defense budget for locally made weapons, including missiles and warships.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chiu noted that Taiwan has made no move to provoke an attack in response to the Chinese air raids.
"We will prepare militarily," he said.
"I think our army is like this: if we have to fight, we will be on the front lines."
Taiwan and mainland China have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which defeated nationalists fled to Taipei.
However, Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory, despite the fact that the Communist Party of China has never ruled the democratic island of some 24 million people.
Beijing has refused to rule out military force to capture Taiwan if necessary, and blames what it calls "collusion" between Taiwan and the United States for rising cross-strait tensions.
"The United States has been taking negative action by selling arms to Taiwan and strengthening official and military ties with Taiwan, including launching a $ 750 million arms sale plan to Taiwan, landing US military aircraft in Taiwan, and frequent navigation of US warships through the Taiwan Strait, "Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said on Monday.
The Chinese ministry announced Wednesday that senior diplomat Yang Jiechi and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan would meet in Zurich to "exchange views on China-US relations and relevant issues."
The ministry did not provide the date of the meeting.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the Chinese delegation arrived in Zurich on Tuesday.
CNN's Beijing bureau contributed to the report.
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